Dust guard



c. c. FARMER Feb. 23, 1937.

DUST GUARD Filed July 24, 1934 Patented Feb. 23, 1937 v 2,071 735uUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DUST GUARD Clyde 0. Farmer, Pittsburgh, Pa.,assignor to The Westinghouse Air Brake Company, Wilmerding, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Application July 24, 1934, Serial No.736,673

2 Claims. (Cl. 286-6) This invention relates to dust guards employedFigure 4 is an enlarged sectional view, taken on in car journal boxesfor preventing access of line 44 of Figure 2. foreign material to theinterior of the journal My improved dust guard may be employed in bOX ad t e a bearing. and has for s P connection with any type of car journalbox. It

5 Cipal bject to pr v a u t guard having im is shown as assembled inconnection with a jour- 5 Proved Sealing Characteristics. nal box havinga casing 5 containing a bearing Another Object o y invention is Providechamber 6 into which the car-wheel axle 1 exa dust guard whi h may bemanufactured a tends throu h an opening a in the inner end of ativelylow cost and Which efiectively Prevents the casing. The inner end of thecasing 5 is pro- 10 ss o foreign a e Such as dust dirt vided with avertical slot 9 for receiving the dust to the axle bearing regardless ofrelative moveguard 1 through the upper end pening ment of the parts orof wear thereof, a suitable cap member I2 being provided in "'Papphcatlon serlal for closing the opening II, which cap member 683,336,filed August 2, 1933, now Patent may be constructed, for example, ofsheet steel 1,969,787, issued August 14, 1934, and assigned to or othersheet metaL 15 the assignee of this application, I disclose a one- Ref ri particularly to Figures 2, 3, and 4, P dust guard of "S moldedmaterial the dust guard I0 is preferably of some resilient havlng acentral Opemng thrQugh which the material, such as rubber composition,molded in axle is adapted extend the periphery of the the form of adished bell-shaped member having central Opening bemg constituted by aninwardly a relatively thin base portion or section I3 which 20 taperedresilient lip which is biased radially outhas a circular opening '4extending by 3 d Whlch Presses firmly through, through which the axle 1is adapted to sealing relation against the axle to exclude extendsurrounding the opening '4 is an forelgn Partlcle? The axlal wldth ordepth of nular lip or flange 15, integrally molded with the the dustguard 15 Such as to permlt the guard to base section l3 which lip tap rsradially inward- 25 loosely slide into the supporting slot of thejournal ly in the manner of a trungated cone so that box I have .foundthat dust 9 dlrt when the axle extends through the opening, theparticles enter the beanng f of the Journal lip is biased outwardly intoa cylindrical contour, box by passmg through the crevlces between the asshown in Figure 1 the resiliency or the li dust guard and the walls thethereby causing it to bear tightl in sealing relatio passing the seal ofthe annular lip surrounding against the axle The up '5 is madesufficiently the axle.

thick so that even though the surface thereof, My present dust guardconstltutes an Improve which contacts the axle is worn by friction, the

mem; o r th dust guard, disclosed in my prior v co-pending application,in that it is adapted to i stm gontmues to press fimly m sealmg rela- 35be axially compressed when in the journal casagamst the axle; ing slot,additional sealing surfaces being pro- Order to provlde a.deslredSt1ffness.and

vided on the dust guard which cooperate with rigidity, and at the sametime enable a relatively the walls of the slot in the journal box inwhich 5 Wflght guard to be fjbtamed' P 40 the dust guard is positioned,for preventing the npheral flange 'm slde t 40 entry of dust or dirtparticles into the interior of base Sectlon p v d d, 'WhlCi'l flange isinthe ioumal box by by passing the Sea] at the ax1e tegrally molded withthe base section [3, and also The above and other Objects and advantagesa plurality of reenforcing ribs l1, extending raof the improved dustguard, constituting my pres dially of the opening l4 and integrallyuniting ent invention, are attained by means of one emthe projectingPortion the flange and the 45 bodiment thereof, which is hereinafterdescribed base Section in Supporting l'elation- The ribs and which isillustrated in t accgmpanying l1 terminate short of the inner peripherallip I5 drawing, wherein, so that while the base portion of the dustguard Figure 1 is an elevational view of a car journal is renderedrelatively stiff and rigid, the resiliency box, partially in section,showing my improved of the lip is retained. 50 dust guard in positiontherein, The face of the base section [3, opposite to Figures 2 and 3are views in reduced scale of that having the ribs l1 united therewith.is opposite sides, respectively, of my improved dust formed with a fiatsealing face N3 of elongated guard, while in the free or non-assembledcondicontour, which is perpendicular to the axis of tion thereof, andthe dust guard, and which merges into the outer 55 peripheral portion ofbase section II through a slightly inclined or tapered face IS.

The axial thickness or depth of the dust guard, relative to the width ofthe slot 9, is such that the guard is axially compressed as it isinserted into the slot. When the dust guard is positioned in thevertical slot 9, as shown in Figure l, the

flat vertical edge of the outer peripheral flange I 6 presses in sealingrelation against one wall 2| of the vertical slot 8 and the sealing faceI! presses in sealing relation against the opposite wall 22 of the slot9. The axial compression of the dust guard will be noted by a comparisonof Figure 1 and Figure 4, the end of the sealing lip II being closer tothe plane of the sealing edge of the flange IS in Figure 1 than inFigure4. Figures 1 and 4 have been drawn to slightly exaggerate the extent ofthe axial compression in order to render this characteristic of mypresent dust guard more readily apparent.

It will thus be observed that the sealing relation of the sealing facell against the wall 22 and that of the sealing edge of the outerperipheral flange I6 against the wall 2| provide two seals, in series,against the influx of dust or dirt particles into chamber 6 through theopening 8, the two seals being in parallel relation to the seal effectedby the lip l5 against the axle I. I have found that where such seals arenot provided, dust or dirt particles by-pass the seal at the axle andenter the bearing chamber 6 through the crevices between the basesection of the dust guard and the walls of the vertical slot 9. Byproviding the dust guard with sealing surfaces cooperating with thewalls of the vertical slot into which the dust guard is inserted, thepossibility of the entrance or influx of dust or dirt particles into thejournal bearing chamber 6 is greatly minimized and the efliciency of theseal effected by the dust guard greatly increased.

It will also be observed that by providing the flat metal cap member '2for the opening ll of the vertical slot 9, free upward movement of thedust guard in the slot 9 is permitted upon wear of the axle bearing andupward movement of the axle relative to the ioumal easing causedthereby. Furthermore, due to the compression of the dust guard theflange I6 and sealing face l8 continue to maintain their seal regardlessof the upward movement of the dust guard in the slot.

It is understood that the dust guard, constituting my present invention,is capable of various changes, omissions or additions without departingfrom the spirit thereof, and it is, therefore, not my intention to limitthe scope of my present invention to the specific embodiment asillustrated or otherwise than is necessitated by the prior art and theterms of the appended claims.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A one-piece non-metallic dust guard for a car Journal box, comprisinga resilient body having an opening therein for receiving a car axle,

said opening having a continuous sealing lip surrounding it for forminga seal with the said axle, said body also having a continuous raisedsealing face on one side thereof for engaging and forming a seal withone wall of the said journal box, and having its peripheral edgeterminating in a second continuous sealing face for engaging and forminga seal with an opposite wall of said Journal box, the portion of saidbody intermediate said two sealing faces being so dished that when thedust guard is installed it is placed under sufficient tension tomaintain said sealing faces in sealing engagement with said walls.

2. A one-piece non-metallic dust guard for a car journal box, comprisinga resilient body having an opening therein for receiving a car axle,said opening having a continuous sealing lip surrounding it for forminga seal with the said axle, said body also having a continuous raisedsealing face on one side thereof for engaging and forming a seal withone wall of the said journal box, and having its peripheral edgeterminating in a second continuous sealing face for engaging and forminga seal with an opposite wall of said journal box, the planes of saidsealing faces being so displaced in their free state as to be forcedtoward each other when the dust guard is installed whereby the sealingfaces are maintained in contact with their respective walls.

CLYDE C. FARLdER.

